2024
Pencil on paper
h194 x w244cm
Unique

Nicola Hicks MBE FRSS

Born in London in 1960, Nicola Hicks studied at Chelsea School of Art (1979-1982), before gaining an MA from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1985. Hicks defied the dominance of abstract art in the 1980s, forging a path centred on figuration and raw natural beauty. Working mainly with plaster and straw, her final sculptures are cast in bronze – the contrast between the materials used to construct the maquettes with the solidity and permanence of bronze imbuing the work with a simultaneous feeling of fragility and strength. Hicks is unafraid of exploring darker content in her work, and her often monumental sculptures routinely use anthropomorphism to raise questions about human and animal nature, depicting humanised animals and beast-like humans. ‘I love the magical feeling of having something evolve at my fingertips’, she says; ‘making something live that hasn’t lived before’.
Hicks’ work features in prestigious collections and public spaces worldwide, including the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, and Battersea Park and the Tate Gallery in London. She was awarded an MBE in 1995 for her contribution to the arts, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors in 2023. Hicks lives and works in London.